The PokeMaster one and a half
by Y2Jen
Summary: Hear the whole story of The Pokemon Master strait from the eyes of two people who were there, Tracy and Todd. Finally learn of the untold, unsung heroes of Kanto, hear their story behind TPM. (complete.)
1. Tracey's Past Upon Meeting Todd

Chapter 1: Tracey's Past Upon Meeting Todd  
  
You all know the story of Ash, how he grew up to overthrow Giovanni and become the Pokemon Master, but what about his two best friends Tracy and Todd? Well, this is the story within the story, the untold tale of the two unsung heroes of the Kanto region. This is their story-  
  
As you know, Ash grew up in Pallet in western Kanto. Now you might think Tracey is from the Orange Islands, and that's true, but he was born in a place called Crimson City, in the far eastern outskirts of Kanto nearing Joto. Back when Ash was very young, and even just a baby, Crimson City was populated but that fact was a trying one....  
  
"What was that?" A boy stopped in the middle of the road, his sister ran into him.  
  
"What was that?" She repeated, looking around.  
  
"Sh!" A few people poked their heads around corners or through open windows and doors, "Quick before Pokemon come."  
  
The boy and girl looked up to the lookout tower where the guard yelled, "All clear!"  
  
Everyone continued on with their business, scurrying along the streets. Crimson City, being at the edge of the county and in the farthest reaches from PokeMaster Ketchum's residence, terror reigned. Pokemon attacked the city often, and the people constantly lived in fear. A new power was rising, and that was none other than Team Rocket.  
  
"Keep on running, keep running, keep on running." A chant could be heard through the street. "When you're building don't forget to run, you can run once you're done."  
  
"What's that!" A voice screamed and everyone paused, looking around again.  
  
"Quick before Pokemon come." The people continued to hurry as the chant grew louder and clearer. "Keep on building, never get done. Keep on running, before the Pokemon come. Build a wall, build a wall."  
  
The adults were constructing a wall of wood and concrete cement blocks around the city, the older children were gathering supplies as the elder people helped out where they could. Some people were standing on ladders putting barbed wire on the top of the eight foot walls. These people were serious about protecting their hometown from the dangers that lay outside, and they had good reason too.  
  
"Keep on running that's what we do, life's a wall and we build it too. Keep on running that's what we sing, keep on building, that's everything. Wood and cement are our best friend, you never know what's around the bend. And when you get to the walls end, hallelujah let's build again."  
  
Tracey was about six and a half, seven, at this time, he could've left to become a Pokemon Trainer but he didn't have the desire, and not to mention that the town he currently resided in feared them. But Tracey was one of the workers who helped the adults build the fences and other things to protect them. He was the middle child, he had an older brother and younger sister, they lived with both parents. Speaking of parents, Tracey's mom was looking for him. She was kinda chunky but still pretty looking, she had hair like Misty, only her red orange hair had the ponytail in the back of her head.  
  
"Hello, uhm, excuse me, have any of you guys seen Tracey?" She would ask random people on the street, but the only replies she would get were, 'run, build, wall, little faster, what was that'. "Has my son passed through here?" Finally she found somebody that might know, her husband. "Max."  
  
"Ah!" He flinched and turned around to his wife. He had short dark gray hair and was fairly skinny, except for his beer belly. "Unca, don't scare me like that."  
  
"Relax, have you seen Tracey?"  
  
"Hmm, well let's see. So far there's been no fractures, no hernias, no concussions, contusions or any of the sort. Nope, it's been a good day, no sign of Tracey's handy work anywhere..." But before Max could finish, a huge crack appeared in the wall behind them. Screams rang out as it collapsed. Max stood up from the dust and dirt, "That would be.... Tracey!"  
  
Everyone whirled around to see Tracey freeze by the end of the wall and smirk, "Hi..." Unca walked over to her son. "I was making a window, you know, so we could spy out?"  
  
"Oh, a window, how creative." She grimaced between her teeth as she brushed the dirt off her son, then muttered to herself, "Not again."  
  
"Sorry, sorry everyone." Tracey gulped, trying not to blush with humiliation.  
  
The town began to mutter angry things under their breath like, 'yea we could see them, and they could see us!' or 'way to go man' or 'haha, nice work' or 'fourth time this week, who else could do that' or 'not again'  
  
"Why don't I just take him and have a talk with him." Unca pushed Tracey to the back of the town as everyone picked up where they left off. "What's the matter with you son?"  
  
"I'm sorry mom, I was just trying to help. It's just that I don't understand what we've got here. All we do is run and hide so we can build and build so we can run and hide."  
  
"Son, this can't go on much longer. Just this month alone you've pulled down four walls and collapsed two lookout posts. We have to look out for each other, our survival depends on it." She begins to brush through his hair.  
  
"But what's the point?" He jerks away. "I don't wanna have to live a life of fear, where all we do is build for our safety and then run and hide in it. What's so bad of dreaming about a better home?"  
  
Unca sighed, "Tracey, I want to show you something." She opened one of the hatches in a wooden wall. "Look out there.... well go on, look." She pushed her son's head. "Look out there, everything the light touches, the land, the treetops, the sky...." Tracey wore a wide grin as he surveyed the beautiful scenery. "Belongs to someone else." She closed the hatch.  
  
"Funny, I kinda pictured you go down a different path here...." He smirked to himself.  
  
"Out there is a land of Pokemon and trainers."  
  
"She's right son." Max appeared almost from out of nowhere. "It's a scary place filled with fear."  
  
"Come on honey, get a grip." Unca sighed.  
  
"It's like a whole circle of life kinda thing hu?" Tracey went on.  
  
"What, how so?"  
  
"Pokemon attack humans and humans train Pokemon.... you know, circle of life?"  
  
"Circle of life? More like line of irony!" Max paused and began to think aloud to himself. "Wait, is that the right word I'm looking for here?"  
  
"Thank you Max." Unca rolled her eyes. "You've been a big help."  
  
"But we can catch Pokemon!" Tracey protested.  
  
"But Pokemon can eat us!" Max cut him off. "Some people just can't train Pokemon, they're not trainer material."  
  
"Uhm..." Tracey began but was cut off.  
  
"Oh come on Max." Unca spoke up. "I bet anyone could train Pokemon when old enough."  
  
"Even me?" Tracey perked up.  
  
"Well, uh..."  
  
"There's better out there, I just know it. We can go..." Tracey asked.  
  
"To where." Max frowned. "We're not trainers, how could we tame those ravenous, vicious Pokemon that attack our poor fair city?"  
  
"Well," Unca spoke up. "I have heard of a new region beyond Kanto out there, it's called the Orange Islands."  
  
"What about it?" Max asked.  
  
"Out there is a beautiful land where people live in peace and what little Pokemon known out there stay in the water and the land types are shy and live in harmony with the humans."  
  
"That's just a fantasy utopia Unca." Max caused her to frown.  
  
"Then why don't we move there?" Tracey asked.  
  
Unca turned around, "We can't leave them now. Your father and I grew up here, we raised you and your brother and sister here. This is our home, we can't stick here for the good and turn our tails and run during the bad."  
  
"Yea." Tracey sighed. "I understand."  
  
"Don't worry son." Unca sighed and began to brush her son's messed up hair with her hands. Tracey smirked, feeling like a little child. "Everything works out in the end, you'll see. I just know there's a way for you to fit in here." One rebellious lock of hair fell out of place and Tracey shook his head to mess his hair back up.  
  
"Shift call." A voice echoed in the distance. "Tracey on sentry."  
  
"Tracey on sentry?" Max gasped.  
  
"Did you hear that!" Unca smiled. "My son, the sentry!"  
  
"But mom...." Tracey couldn't finish, Unca was pushing him back to the front gate as Max followed.  
  
"This is just what you wanted, it's open, outside, away from building."  
  
"But Unca, Tracey a sentry? Might as well open the doors now and allow the Pokemon to kill us." Max said.  
  
"You know he's right you know." Tracey agreed.  
  
"Well we could always put you back with construction." Unca suggested.  
  
"No!" Tracey, Max and the town cried in unison. They all froze and looked at each other, then resumed their work.  
  
"Then it's settled, Tracey is the sentry." Unca smiled.  
  
"Sentry, yea. I mean, how hard can it be?" Tracey gulped.  
  
"Your brother was the previous sentry." Unca looked up at the lookout spot where Tracey's older brother, Joe, was tattered and shaggy, dirty, scrawny, and hair all grayish brown and messy. "Uhm, Max, do you mind?"  
  
"Sure, sure..." Max walked over to his son and dragged him away as he was muttering and laughing insanely in gibberish.  
  
"Well, now I'm convinced." Tracey gulped sarcastically.  
  
"Don't worry, your dad was a sentry before, he'll tell you everything you need to know." Unca took Joe back to their house and left Max with Tracey. "Oh and one more thing, remember honey, try to make this one work out..."  
  
"Now all you have to remember is took look out for Pokemon. And if you see one, what do you do?"  
  
"Yell: mommy!"  
  
"That's right. Because it's a fraught world out there, fraught I tell you."  
  
"Oh boy, here we go with the fraught fest again..." Tracey zoned out as his dad rambled on.  
  
"You got it?"  
  
"Yes sir!"  
  
"That's my boy." Max left.  
  
Tracey stood on the post and looked out, "Hey, this isn't so hard..." He stopped when he saw a small little lake shimmering in the sun, there were beautiful flowers hidden in the bushes under the trees. "Wow, I gotta make a sketch of this!" He took out his pocket book and began to draw. And as he did, he sung a song to himself:  
  
There's more to life than panic Or being a Pokemon's snack I may be a target for an attack But this human's fighting back  
  
I'll put building walls behind me I've got a new attitude And I'll catch and train Pokemon, to remind me That I'm not just food  
  
For once I'll be looking out for me, yea!  
  
(But Tracey was so into his song that he didn't notice three pairs of eyes watching him.)  
  
I'll tell you what I want, this kid is moving on!  
  
I'm missing out on all the fun I could be the big cheese Far from this dismal scene Riding on a cool ocean breeze To a little place just for me  
  
And I'll be relaxing in a hammock By a peaceful pond or stream Miles away from any wall Or construction scene Looking after your one and only Will be my only greed  
  
That's all I need That's all I need  
  
I've always been good at hiding And running away Well now I'm running head on I've always been a Pokemon's prey  
  
But my status no aint so quo...  
  
This life is for the birds, my true life's gonna shine I'm not asking for a lot, but what's mine is mine Whose gonna wanna argue with my chorus line My dream is sublime, it's rumble time  
  
But before Tracey could even repeat the chorus of, "That's All I Need", he noticed the three eyes and they weren't so far off, they were standing right next to him. Tracey dropped his sketchbook and pencil as he cowered before two pre-teens, a boy and a girl, but even scarier than the red 'R' that they wore on their shirts was the Meowth that stood before him, bared tooth and claw.  
  
"Hey look at this, a dinner and a meal." The Meowth joked.  
  
"A talk... a talk... a talk..." Tracey stuttered.  
  
"No, the time for talk has passed my friend." The girl, Jessy, smirked.  
  
"Oh, it's rumble time!" The boy, James, yelled, quoting one of the last lines of Tracey's songs.  
  
"Mommy." Tracey whispered as Meowth slashed at him, he rolled down the hill off the lookout post and down through the front gates where he crashed into his dad who was pacing around on guard duty.  
  
"Tracey!" He got up. "What are you doing down here this is no time to fool around, you're supposed to be on the lookout for..." But before he could finish, Max saw the trio. "Intruders!"  
  
Everyone looked up and screamed as they began to run into their houses, the security on guard went to close the door but the trio was too close and too fast, they got in.  
  
"Go Ekans!"  
  
"Go Koffing!"  
  
"Woohoo, look at em go, this is just how I like it!" Meowth laughed.  
  
Jessy, James and the three Pokemon began to attack the people who had not yet made it to safety. Max was trying to help some of the others get to safety. Tracey cowered in a ball, he hadn't moved from where he was.  
  
"Get in here!" She pulled Tracey inside where she was with her other two children. "Ok, you three are here but... where's your dad!" She gasped. Max was the only one left outside and the intruders were blocking the door to his house.  
  
"Ah!" Max turned and saw them.  
  
"Dad, run for your life!" Joe yelled.  
  
"Play dead!" Joe and Tracey's sister cried.  
  
"You got it, almost there!" Unca said but they attacked. "Oh no." Everyone cringed but suddenly the door opened and Max fell in, everyone gasped. "Max, are you alright?" But he just muttered something in a groan and collapsed.  
  
"Man that was great." James laughed as he returned Koffing.  
  
"Yea, it never gets old." Jessy agreed as she returned Ekans.  
  
"Gotta love it." Meowth retracted his claws.  
  
Everyone came outside as soon as the trio was gone to see how Max was doing. Joe was waving him with a fan, he was pretty beat up. Everyone leered over at Tracey, "Hey, sorry, I uhm, I guess I owe everybody an apology, I made one little mistake.... someday we'll all look back on this and laugh right? I mean come on now, how many of you have broken into song while on century, show of hands?" Tracey was the only one with his in the air. Everyone frowned and scowled as they walked off to restore the damage made in the attack. "Come on, I said I was sorry. I promise it won't happen again." Tracey looked over at his dad. "Trust me!"  
  
"I did trust you."  
  
"But...."  
  
And with that, Max went back inside. Tracey sighed and looked down at his little sister, she had blond yellow hair and a dark tanned skin, "Way to go, bro." She followed her dad inside and slammed the door. Unca sighed and turned to see Tracey walking off out the back gate.  
  
"Oh, honey." She followed him to where they were talking earlier, "So you made a mistake, things can be fixed."  
  
"Come on mom, I can't fit in here, nobody wants me here, nobody likes me."  
  
"There's people who like you..."  
  
"Other than you, mom."  
  
"Oh, well there's uh...." She began to think.  
  
"This isn't the right place for me, I don't belong here." Tracey sighed and looked at the sunset.  
  
Unca began to brush her son's hair with her hands again, "Yes it is, we just have to find it, and we will. So you don't like building walls and century wasn't the right job. Here's an idea, you could...."  
  
"Forget it mom!" He ruffled his hair. "And enough with the hair!" He sighed. "My place is out there, I may not know exactly where, but I gotta go, no matter how far."  
  
"No wait, I know, if we just..."  
  
"No mom."  
  
"This may be the life set out for us, but I guess it's not the right life for you. Maybe it's time you find out what is." Tracey looked down at his hands, his mom was holding them tight. "You can change, if given the chance." He looked up at his mom's face, he understood what she was saying by reading her eyes. "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for son."  
  
"But what about you guys mom?"  
  
"Don't worry honey, things will be fine for us here." She smiled. "You go out there and you find what you were meant to do, find out who you were meant to be."  
  
Tracey was silent for a moment, but then he hugged his mom who squeezed back, "Ow, mom, choking, not breathing." Finally she let go and returned to holding his hands. "I'll return mom, I'll come back here and things will be better, you just wait and see."  
  
"I know they will." Unca sighed and reluctantly let go of her son's hands.  
  
"I'll be ok too."  
  
"I know you will."  
  
"By mom, I love you." And with that Tracey began to walk off into the sunset.  
  
Unca watched her son go, "Oh, I love you too, just be careful."  
  
"I will."  
  
"Remember, don't talk to strangers."  
  
"I know mom."  
  
"Always wear clean underwear."  
  
"Mom!" Tracey turned around. "I'm not a little boy anymore, I'm growing up!" He continued walking.  
  
"Tracey!" Unca began yelling some more but Tracey was too far to hear it.  
  
"What?" He turned and tried to listen, but he couldn't make it out. "Good by mom!" And with that, Tracey began his new life. He walked through grasslands, through forests. But as night settled and he found himself in a cold dark desert, he finally realized that he was on his own. "Ah, I want my mommy. Oh mom!" He began to cry before some sort of rest house that was set up for travelers like Pokemon Trainers. "What am I doing, where should I go?"  
  
All of a sudden, somebody jumped out in front of him, "Hello!"  
  
"Ah!"  
  
"That depends on where you're going."  
  
Tracey didn't hear that, he was still in shock, "Who are you?"  
  
"The better question is, where are you going?" It was Professor Oak.  
  
"Oh someplace wonderful, mister. I... you didn't happen to catch the song I was singing a few minutes ago now did ya?"  
  
"No, I'm sorry I didn't have the pleasure."  
  
"Well, to sum it up for ya, I'm going someplace where I have no worries, have a perfect life of freedom."  
  
"Ah, I see you want to live by your motto."  
  
"Yea, exactly! Wait, I have a motto?"  
  
"You want to live a perfect life of freedoms and no worries. Everyone seeks that."  
  
"So then can you help me?"  
  
Professor Oak put his hand on Tracey's shoulder, "To find what you desire, you must look beyond what you see."  
  
"Look beyond what I see?" Tracey looked out. He saw rocks and trees and blank hills, until finally he saw something far off in the distance. "Wait a sec, I think I've got it, something's coming to me. Either it's my dinner turning on my stomach or I think I'm having an epiphany! I'm going to that town over there! Right?" He turned but the figure was gone. "Ok, wow, what just happened here? Who was that stranger? Oh well, dream life, here I come." After thinking for a moment, Tracey began to walk on. He was out of the small patch of desert and walking through a normal terrain through some long grass. A wind picked up and blew eerily through them, causing Tracey's neck hair to bristle. "Uhm, hello? Strange but wise person?" He heard a strange clicking and whirring sound, and he began to run for his life with something in pursuit. He ran through the grass like a deer being chased by a lion. Finally he emerged and the light from the sunrise blinded him. When he got his vision back, he realized something was in front of him. "Ah!" He screamed as he skidded to a halt.  
  
"Ah!" The person in front of him gasped, startled as well.  
  
"Ah!" They both screamed for a while before Tracey finally spoke up.  
  
"Oh please don't hurt me trainer, please have your Pokemon destroy me quickly because I have a low level pain tolerance!"  
  
"Easy there, I'm not a trainer, I'm too young anyways." The boy replied. Tracey looked up to see a boy with brown hair, he was about the same age as him.  
  
"You aren't?" Tracey stood up. "Wait, if you weren't trying to kill me, then why were you chasing me?"  
  
"I just saw you walking around and figured a guy like you shouldn't be out here at night all alone."  
  
"Oh. Well what about you, you're alone. Wait, you are all alone aren't you?" Tracey began to look around nervously.  
  
"Yea, Pokemon get startled easily whenever they notice that I'm around."  
  
"They do?" Tracey perked up.  
  
"Yea." The boy looked at his camera.  
  
"What, you have some super special secret power?"  
  
"No, I just scare them with my camera, the noises make them run."  
  
"Oh I see. You're a photographer? Cool, I draw."  
  
"Cool."  
  
"Well buddy, you're hired."  
  
"Great! Uhm, for what?"  
  
"You're gonna get me to that place." Tracey pointed to the town in the distance.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Some guy told me," He spoke in a mocking voice. "Look beyond what you see." He spoke normally. "So I'm going to that town."  
  
"Ok." The boy shrugged. "So you want me to go with you?" Tracey nodded. "Well then, I'm your man."  
  
Tracey smiled, "I can see it now, you and me, we see eye to eye."  
  
"By the way, my name's Tracey."  
  
"No really? Todd." He smiled. "Here, let me get a picture of my new friend."  
  
"Whoa, we just met pal. We're more like, an acquaintances."  
  
"Oh." He sighed. "Great, well put it there, acquaintance."  
  
"Well, alright then, let's hit the road." They shook hands and began to walk to the town as Tracey spoke up, "You know something bud, I think this is gonna be the start of something big." 


	2. The Start Of Something Big

Chapter 2: The Start Of Something Big  
  
It was morning by now, Tracey and Todd were walking out in the open only a few miles away from the town destination. It was dusk but you could see the town getting closer on the horizon. Just then a flock of people trampled them.  
  
"Ah!" The two cowered until they were gone, then they stuck their heads up.  
  
"What was that?" Tracy asked.  
  
"Dunno, looked like a group of reporters or something."  
  
"Really?" Tracey stood up and put his hands on his hips. "I wonder what got into them?"  
  
They continued their way, the sun was up higher now, it was later morning by now when they reached the town. It was more or less empty until they came up to where a whole herd of people was surrounding one house up on a hill.  
  
"I think we're a little late." Todd looked around.  
  
"It's a rush, that loudmouth man, he must've blabbed it to the whole world!"  
  
"What exactly did he tell you?"  
  
"I told you! He told me to look beyond what I see."  
  
"So, maybe you're supposed to look beyond this town?"  
  
"Hmm, maybe I'm supposed to look beyond this town." Tracey thinks, seemingly hearing Todd's voice as his mind and coming to the conclusion that this was his thought.  
  
Todd was a little confused, "Well, let's look then shall we?"  
  
"Beyond what I see..." Tracey repeated to himself as he looks around the crowd. "Oh, what do you know? That guy's got an eagle eye for real estate!"  
  
"Tracey, look." Todd finally notices the ceremony where Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum were standing with Prof. Oak who was about to present their son, Ash, to the town.  
  
"Hey, it's that man!"  
  
"What's that thing he's holding onto?"  
  
"Who cares, it's not important." Tracey began to walk through the crowd. "Come on, my dream home awaits."  
  
"Uh, why don't we just go around?" Todd asked, trying to be polite.  
  
"Don't you know that the shortest distance between two points is a strait line? Come on, just follow me." Tracey pulls Todd through the crowd.  
  
"Oh, ow, excuse me, hello, goodness." The crowd was a little irritated at the shoving and bumping.  
  
"Make room, watch it I'm walking here." Tracey moved through them.  
  
Some of the tight squeezes between people banged Todd's camera, "Uhm, Tracey, maybe we should..."  
  
"Todd, we'll have plenty of time to talk once we settle in."  
  
"But I really think..."  
  
"Don't worry, we'll have for that later time."  
  
"But Tracey."  
  
"Trust me, it'll be fine."  
  
"But..." Finally somebody hit the camera hard enough that the flash went off.  
  
"Ah, I'm blind!" The man cried.  
  
"Hu" Tracey turned around.  
  
"I told you." Todd gulped. "My camera."  
  
"My eyes!" The man's crying was gathering attention.  
  
"Let's get outa here!" Tracey began to pull him faster. Todd's camera was hitting more people now, causing random flashes to go off everywhere. Everyone cries out and begins to rub their eyes. Up on the house on the hill, Prof. Oak sees the commotion and thinks that everyone is rubbing their eyes in shock in awe of the young child.  
  
"Look guys." He motions to the proud parents. "They can't believe it."  
  
"Wow, what a special power." Tracey laughs when they make their way out. "So I guess that's you're weapon."  
  
"Yup." Todd sighs as he checks his camera. "I hope they'll be ok."  
  
"They will, don't worry." Tracey walks off. "Come on, let's go."  
  
"Ok, lead the way." Todd follows Tracey as they finally reach their destination: it's a sheltered cave by a small pond, everything surrounded by greenery, flowers in the bushes, fruit in the trees, it was a great little patch of paradise.  
  
"This is hit buddy, home sweet home." Tracey stretched. "Haha, and I don't gotta share it with anybody."  
  
Todd stops, "But don't you get lonely?"  
  
"Lonely? Try commitment free! All that shoving and bumping around reminded me too much of home, this place has everything. And it's all mine."  
  
"Oh." Todd tries to take in the fact that he's not being factored into this. "Well, it's really coming together for ya Trace. So, uhm, I guess I'll just be going." He starts to walk off.  
  
"Now, wait a minute. There's no law that says you have to go. I mean, if you want..."  
  
Todd jumps back, "Oh, great! I already made up two beds, one for you and one for me."  
  
Tracey smiles as he stretches, "Oh, gee, all this traveling really got me tired. I think I'll turn in early." He gets into one of the beds. "Ah, yea, this is the life."  
  
Todd, also tired from their trip, get into the other bed, "Ah, good night."  
  
"Sleep tight."  
  
"Don't let the Pokemon bite."  
  
They fall asleep and sleep all day and into the night, they wake up the next morning to hear noise and the commotion is literally shaking them awake in their cave.  
  
"Ah!" Tracey falls out of his bed, he groans and gets a stick, banging the dirt ceiling. "Hey, keep it down up there!"  
  
"We have neighbors, we should say hello."  
  
"Noisy neighbors, there go the property values." Tracey moans. They both finally get up and get out of the cave, finding themselves in the middle of a huge party full of singing, among the spectacle are Ash and Misty. "Oh, perfect. Get a load of these guys, knock it off."  
  
Todd just smiles and takes a picture, "We moved to the theater district, what a buzz." The flash startles some people and things start to get crazy.  
  
Before Todd and Tracey knew it, everyone was gone in the dust and Brock lay somewhere among the rubble, unbeknownst to them, "I'm ok." He groaned to himself.  
  
"Ah, phew." Todd sighs with relief. "Show biz people." Soon they were walking again, this time to find a new, better, location.  
  
"Come on Todd, our dream home is around here somewhere." Tracey assured, once again Tracy quotes Prof. Oak. "I'm going beyond what I see."  
  
Todd was confused, "But if you always go beyond what you see, how do you know when you're there?"  
  
Tracey stopped to think for a moment, then continued walking, brushing some branches and tall stalks of grass aside, "Oh, I'll tell you how I know. We're there!" They stop, they're in the north field outside of Pallet. Todd is a little afraid. "This is a lovely spot, a little rustic, but don't you say it's picturesque? Home sweet home Todd." He turns to him and sees him a little unsure. "Ah come on, I mean sure it needs a little work. After all, this is a protected field, who would ever come here?" Just as he finishes, Mr. Ketchum leaps off a rock ledge above them, followed by Brock. Todd and Tracey duck. "Ah!"  
  
"Mr. Ketchum, the Rockets are after Ash and Misty!"  
  
Tracey and Todd watch in shock and fear from behind a log as Raichu attacks the Rockets. Tracey hides behind Todd, being remembered of home with Pokemon attacks. Todd reluctantly takes a picture. Later, Tracey and Todd resume their search for the perfect life. They're in a dark desolate area in the outskirts even beyond the north fields.  
  
"Beyond what you see." Tracey laughs crazily.  
  
"Uhm, Tracey, are you sure it's safe to be here?"  
  
Ignoring him, Tracey stands firm, "Hey this is it baby, home sweet home." A geyser shoots up a stream of steam behind Tracey, causing him to freeze up. "Heh, steam, that's good, steam is water, gotta have water, you know, for the dream home. Steam home, dream home." He gulps, starting to get scared now, he bumps his back against Todd's by accident, causing his camera to flash a picture again. "I'm perfectly happy right here, it's remote, private, no unexpected visitors..." Before he could finish, an army of Rocket's appear. Todd and Tracey turn, Tracey is nearly white recognizing the R's on their shirts, they'd stumbled into Team Rocket's secret base. "Mommy." In a flash, it's the next day, and they're traveling again. "Beyond what I see..." They stop when their path ends in front of a huge ravine. They make their way down and walk some more. The sun is high in the sky at noon on what seems to be an unexpectedly hot day. "Well, what this place lacks in water and shade, it makes up for with searing heat and blinding sunshine. Home sweet home Todd." He flops down from the heat. The ground begins to shake, they look up to see the flock of Pokemon, being chased by Team Rocket, running right at them.  
  
Todd nearly drops his camera, "Shall we run for our lives?"  
  
"Oh yes let's." He screams and they both run off yelling in fear, running for their lives as fast as they can go. They don't watch where they're going and they run off a ledge and fall.  
  
"Hang on Tracey!"  
  
"This is it Todd, good by cruel world!" But they fall safely into water. "That's it? That wasn't too bad." He floats arrogantly as Todd swims to his side. "You can't knock me down that easy, yea, bring it on!" A loud roaring causes him to stop. "Uhm, Todd, question. Is it possible to fall of the edge of the world?"  
  
"I don't think so, my tutor taught me that the world is round, so it's not possible since there's no edge."  
  
"Whew, well that's good then." But they were about to soar off a huge waterfall.  
  
"Ah!" And they fall, and fall, and fall into the rising mist of the huge waterfall that leads into a lake that rivers out into a stream off somewhere. By nightfall the duo wakes up, somehow they managed to reach shore, alive none to boot.  
  
Todd crawls to Tracey, "Hey, Tracy, are you ok?"  
  
Tracey wakes up, "Ugh, I give up..."  
  
"But, you can't give up, we haven't found our dream home, our dream life."  
  
"Forget it Todd, I've been dragging you down long enough, I'm going home... and I guess you should do the same."  
  
Todd is reluctant, "Oh, I would if I could, but I can't."  
  
"Aw sure you could bud, I'm not stopping you."  
  
Todd sighs, "No, I mean, I can't... I have nowhere to go back to."  
  
"You don't?" Tracey sits up as Todd turns his back away. "What happened, are you lost?" Todd shakes his head. "No place good enough for ya?' Todd slouches his shoulders as he grabs both legs and hugs them close. "What, you're all alone in this big empty world?" Todd finally turns to him, his eyes with tears. "Oh." He gets up. "Well, I have something to tell you. You're the only friend I've ever had."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Yea, and I don't want to loose you. So I tell ya what, why don't you come home with me?"  
  
"You mean it!" Todd has been restored.  
  
"Yea, I mean, things are surely to be different there now."  
  
"Aw, thanks Tracey." Todd hugged him.  
  
Tracey froze but then returned it, "Yea, well, you know how it is Todd, we're friends, and friends stick together to the end." Todd smiled.  
  
And so after a good night sleep from another long weary day, Todd and Tracey set out once again, only this time they knew where they were going. They retraced their steps back through their long journey until they passed the place they met, passed the place Tracey ran into Prof. Oak, they walked until it was night again and finally Tracey had let Todd back to his old home.  
  
"Hey, wait a sec." Todd stopped.  
  
"What is it?" Tracey turned, they were only about a mile from his old home.  
  
"I used to live around here."  
  
"You did?" Tracey was confused, this was the only town for miles around, that could only mean... "Wait, don't tell me you're from Crimson City too?"  
  
Todd's jaw dropped, "You mean that... then..."  
  
"Ah!" They both ran towards each other and hugged.  
  
"Come on, let's go back to our home." Tracey smiled and they continued to walk. "So, why'd you leave, didn't fit in?"  
  
"No it wasn't that, it was just... well, in an attack, Pokemon killed my parents. I left, I couldn't stand to live there anymore."  
  
"Oh." Tracey sighed, he remembered hearing about something like that, it wasn't too long ago too. "Well, things should be different for both of us now, I'm sure my family won't mind having you there too."  
  
"Thanks." Todd smiled.  
  
"Ah, and here we are, home sweet...." They stopped in their tracks, frozen in shock at what they stood before.  
  
"Tracey?" Todd finally spoke up. "What's going on, what happened?"  
  
Tracey swallowed the lump in his throat, "Our home... it's destroyed, it's empty."  
  
The town was all dark and gray, it was abandoned. They walked through the front gates hanging by the hinges and looked around. The walls and lookout posts were all torn down and broken into rocks and wood and rubble. The houses were all cold and empty, the wind in the streets carried dust and trash. Tracey was in shock, what happened, it was all gone. Finally Tracey led Todd to his old home.  
  
"Everyone's all gone, looks like there was a battle here and they were driven away." Todd looked around and came up to Tracey who stared up at his door. "What is it?"  
  
"A note." Tracey took it down and read it:  
  
Dear Tracey, I hope this letter finds you well. I knew that one day you would return so I don't worry that you won't get it. There was rumor going around that an attack was going to happen on our city, and it did. But we were long gone by the time it happened, however, I can't say the same for most other people. I don't know how the town will be when this letter finds you, I only hope that all is going well. I hope you found what you were looking for, don't worry about us, so did we. By the time you read this we'll have long since left Crimson City. Someday I hope we meet again, but if time goes on and that doesn't happen, I just hope you're happy and have finally found your dream life. Remember that I love you and that no matter what happens you're my son. I'm proud of you. Love, Mom.  
  
"I'm sorry Tracey." Todd sighed. Tracey was crying, he sniffed and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"This letter." Tracey spoke up. "Was dated just a few days ago, so that means this happened not too long after I left." He sat down on the porch. "Should we stay here?"  
  
"Of course, this is our home. It'll all be fine, you just wait." Todd assured and Tracey looked up at him. "You know, maybe one day they'll come back, you know?"  
  
"Yea." Tracey smiled. "Things will all work out in the end." He remembered what his mom had told him before he left. "Todd, we can stay here, I mean after all, we have everything that we could need. And plus, nobody would come here, it's abandoned. And if they do, we have your camera to scare them off."  
  
Todd smiled, "So it's settled then, our new home will be... our old home!" 


	3. Dream Home, Dream Life

Chapter 3: Dream Home, Dream Life  
  
Tracey and Todd had chosen to live in Crimson City, they were able to clean up the debris and make it livable again, but it still looked so gray and lifeless. There was plenty of food (preservatives) and utilities like water, but it just wasn't home. Some Pokemon lived in the abandoned houses, and Tracey was able to catch a young Venonat that was lost from its pack. He had no idea what was with his dad, Pokemon were great as soon as you caught them, they were nothing like the ones the Rocket's used to attack their town. Tracey and Todd had fun but got lonely at times, sometimes they'd host a trainer passing through on their journeys, but it still wasn't the same, their dream lives were still missing something...  
  
"You know Todd," Tracey spoke up one day as they were walking back home from around the outside of the city. "This place is great, it's nice to be back home, but our dream home doesn't feel complete, you know?"  
  
"Yea." Todd nodded. "I mean, we've been here for a while now but I just can't put my finger on it."  
  
"I know what you mean." They continued walking. "I mean look at this place, it has anything we'd ever want and everything we'd ever need. Food, shelter, utilities, you name it."  
  
"We should be celebrating, we found that perfect life, just like that guy said."  
  
"Yea, what was it?"  
  
"Uhm.... I dunno." Todd didn't know, not only had he never met Prof. Oak, but Tracey had never told him. Tracey sat down to think. "I'll fix up something to eat, maybe a snack will refresh your memory."  
  
"Maybe." Tracey began to ponder.  
  
"Tomato tomoto."  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"Potato patato."  
  
"It was catchy...."  
  
Todd stuck a finger in his cooking, "This outa be hotter."  
  
"Yet familiar."  
  
"I'll be in the grotto."  
  
"Think, think...." Tracey was banging his head on the wall, causing the dresser to shake, the camera was on it and it fell and flashed. "Oops." He got up and picked it up. "I forget, I'm sorry."  
  
"Meh, that's our motto." Todd shrugged and went back to his cooking.  
  
"Come again?" Tracey froze.  
  
"Our motto, you know something we life by."  
  
"Oh." Tracey remembered now. "A perfect life of freedom and no worries, that's what I wanted."  
  
"A perfect life... And isn't that what you have?"  
  
"Yea. Yea!" Tracey stood tall. "I have the perfect life, I've achieved my dream, and furthermore, I'm home!"  
  
"Yay!" Todd cheered and came over with his burnt food. "Oops, sorry, I got so distracted with this I forgot I had food cooking."  
  
Tracey looked at it and turned up his nose, but shrugged, "Hey, our motto." Todd just smirked. Tracey sighed happily and mumbled it to himself, "Our motto, our motto...."  
  
"Your what?"  
  
"Motto, motto." Prof. Oak was explaining to Unca. He was at the Orange Islands to visit one of his colleagues when he ran into Unca and Max shopping on Valencia Island. "It's a live of freedom and no worries."  
  
"I see..."  
  
"So as I was saying, I told your boy in order to find your motto, you must look beyond what you see."  
  
"Oh, a metaphor." Unca understands and is less skeptical.  
  
"Well actually, it's not a meta..."  
  
Unca cuts him off, grabbing him by his collar, "You used a metaphor on my son! He takes things literally!" She lets go and begins to pace panicking. "That's it, he's starving out there, all lost, alone and scared, I just know it! Max, Tracey's out there chasing metaphors, we gotta go find him!"  
  
"Are you nuts?" He called from a stand.  
  
Unca shakes her head in disgust, "Nice to have a supporting family isn't it." She sighs and grabs his arm. "Well, here we go."  
  
"Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first one step."  
  
"Oh, thanks." She smirks. "Here's mine." She stomps hard on his foot.  
  
"Ah!"  
  
"Don't move Tracey." Todd was putting a bandage on Tracey when he screamed from the medicine.  
  
"Maybe you shouldn't have taken a picture of that Fearow." He groaned.  
  
"I'm sorry, I just gotta find the perfect Pokemon picture." Todd said in a determined voice.  
  
"Well choose a less vicious one. Oh man, memories of being attacked came flooding back, I saw my short pathetic life flashing before my eyes!" Tracey said shakily.  
  
"There, all done." Todd cut the bandage, Tracey's arm had a bandage wrapped around the wound.  
  
"Well I'm done."  
  
"Aw come on, just one more try."  
  
"Yea, I'm sure another fierce Pokemon can hurt my other arm, or even both my legs." Tracey muttered sarcastically. Todd just sighed as Tracey walked off.... "Ah what the hell, you only life once." Tracey jumped back. "Come on, let's go."  
  
"Yea!" Todd smiled and they walked off. "Hey look." Todd stopped Tracey and laughed. "It's that Fearow, come on, let's go scare him."  
  
"Yea, revenge." Tracey rubbed his hands with a smirk and a laugh. "Besides, it's not like the end result of this is gonna affect our lives in any way."  
  
"Ah!" They both ran at the Fearow and it flew off in a panic, they laughed.  
  
"Man, scaring him was great!" Todd laughed.  
  
"Get outa here." Tracey laughed. "We should get him every time."  
  
"Hey look." Todd turned to what the Fearow was looking at.  
  
"Ew, what is it." Tracey looked. It was Ash unconscious and tattered on the ground.  
  
Todd went over to it, "I think it's still alive."  
  
And so with that, Todd and Tracey rescued and took in Ash, but what the young duo hadn't expected with the boy even younger than them, was the joys of parenthood. The second night Ash stayed with them, he slept in Tracey and his sibling's old room while Tracey and Todd shared the big bed in his parent's old room. Then came a small voice...  
  
"Tracey? Tracey, Tracey!"  
  
"What, what!" Tracey snapped away, Todd still slept.  
  
It was Ash, "I gotta go."  
  
"Go? Go where?"  
  
"You know, go. Bad."  
  
Tracey jumped up, understanding, "Oh go. Why didn't you say so? Come on, let's go." He walked him to the bathroom. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."  
  
Later, "Tracey?"  
  
Tracey was only half asleep, "What, again?"  
  
"No. I'm thirsty."  
  
Tracey sighed and walked him to the bathroom again, "You know this means you'll be up again two hours from now..."  
  
Later, "Tracey?" He had to go again, just like Tracey had said.  
  
Tracey sighed, not asleep yet, "I'm gonna get old walking you down the hall..."  
  
Later again, "Tracey?"  
  
He's mad now, "What! What do you have against the concept of a good night sleep hu?"  
  
"Actually, I... uhm, had a bad dream."  
  
"Oh." Tracey softens. "Well, uhm..." He jabs Todd.  
  
He wakes up, "Say ch..."  
  
"Ash had a bad dream."  
  
"Oh." Todd was awake now. "Why don't you sleep here with us?"  
  
Ash smiles and gets in, "Alright!" A resolution, without walking down the hall half asleep. "Good night."  
  
"Sleep tight." Tracey stretched.  
  
"Don't let the Pokemon bite." Todd chimed in, and with that, they fell asleep, together.  
  
Little did Todd and Tracey know what they subconsciously came to realize, Ash was the missing link in their perfect life. They had everything they wanted, they had their dream home, they had each other, they were happy. But they did have their adventures, the fun of raising a younger child, I could make a whole series about that... but I wont, instead I'll just summarize a few.  
  
"Woo!" Ash was surfing on a huge piece of a hollowed out log, only the rapids were leading to the waterfall.  
  
"You man." Tracey tried to sound strict. "You get out of there!"  
  
"Alright!" Ash was just having fun. "Hey you guys, surfs up!" He laughed.  
  
"I'm counting to three!" Tracey warned.  
  
"Yahoo!" Ash went off the waterfall edge, but gasped.  
  
"Uh oh." Todd sees this, Tracey doesn't and is counting.  
  
"One, two..." A huge tidal wave throws Todd onto Tracey, he has his face muffled in the dirt. "Three..." Ash is safe and continued to surf.  
  
Another day, Ash was on the roof jumping across buildings, "Wee!"  
  
"Hang on Ash, I'll save you!" Tracey climbed to the top of one roof, but Ash gets down and the old work on the roof Tracey's climbing breaks and he falls. "Ah!"  
  
But all in all, they had their fun, they lived their lives together happily. Time was going on though, and soon years had passed. Tracey had just turned ten, Todd was about to turn nine, and Ash was already seven. Tracey was legally allowed to become a trainer, he was able to catch a wild Marill and therefore had two Pokemon. The trio was sleeping in late one morning, still all together in the same bed. Ash stretches and yawns, his mouth right in the face of Tracey.  
  
"Whoa, watch where you aim that morning breath." Tracey wakes up, fanning his nose. "That should come with a warning label. Wow, what a wake up call."  
  
Ash just laughs, "Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed, what's the matter bro, had a little too much living to our motto?"  
  
"Oh, boy, I invented our motto." He lies back down to sleep.  
  
Sitting up, "Oh yea? Well I perfected it."  
  
"Sure you did." Tracey closes his eyes. "Todd, who holds the record for the worlds longest burp?"  
  
Todd replies, awake now, "Uhm, that would be Ash."  
  
Shocked, "What? Alright then. Whose the champion of most water bottles drank?"  
  
"Ash again."  
  
"What!" Sitting up now. "Most preservatives eaten in one sitting?"  
  
"Ash."  
  
"Twinkie swallowing?"  
  
"What?" Todd sits up at that new on. "Uhm, nobody, we've never had a contest for that before."  
  
"Really?" Tracey looks smugly over at Ash with a smirk, Ash is confused.  
  
Before anyone knew it, Ash and Tracey were sitting across from each other at a table, a case of twinkies by each. Ash closed his hand into a fist, cracking his knuckles. Tracey's hand pulsed and throbbed as he prepared to start the competition. Ash opened one twinkie and swallowed it whole in one bite, but gasped when he saw Tracey just yawn and stuff two in his mouth and chewing them. He growled and got two in each hand, gulping them all down, he threw down the wrappers onto the table and posed arrogantly with a devilish grin.  
  
"I don't think this is such a good idea." Todd warned. But Tracey and Ash went back and forward faster and faster as Todd just watched as they ate more and more. Finally they were both down to one and their stomachs were pretty full. Ash had his chin on the table. He reached his hand over and eats it, chewing it slowly but then swallowing, he lets out a burp and smiles, resting his head on his hands, propped up on the table by his elbows, as he watches Tracey. Tracey grabs the last one and opens it, lifts it, but can't even open his mouth. "I told you..." Todd shook his head as Tracey's hand falls, dropping the twinkie. Todd goes over and helps him up.  
  
"Ugh." Tracey turns and sees Ash walking off down the hall, head held high, but he makes an immediate jerk for the bathroom where he throws the door shut. Tracey sighs, "Ash is growing up." He sighs and starts half singing half talking, "Is this the little boy we carried?"  
  
Todd does the same, "When did he grow to be so tall?"  
  
They both chime in, "Wasn't it just yesterday when he was small?"  
  
Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset, swiftly fly the years... Soon more time had passed, the years went by, Ash was ten now, old enough to become a trainer, Tracey was twelve and Todd eleven, they were much bigger but the most drastic changed notice was that in Ash, he looked so different yet the same. One season flowing another, laden with happiness and tears...  
  
"So you see, that's the real story behind preservatives." Todd was saying as he and Ash were sitting outside looking up at the starry night sky.  
  
"Ew, you don't say." Ash makes a face. "And yet, still so tasty."  
  
"Oh yea, and they're my favorite too." Todd turns to see Tracey.  
  
"Ah, this is the life." He sits down by them.  
  
"Yup, after a long day of doing nothing, it's good to kick back and relax." Todd agrees.  
  
"Three pals, our motto, a dream life, what more could a guy want?" Ash smirked.  
  
"Not a thing." Tracey closed his eyes as he leaned back. "We got everything."  
  
"Well I'm out, think I'll turn in for the night." Todd got up and stretched, his camera getting banged around his neck flashes.  
  
"Ah!" Tracey and Ash scream, holding their eyes as Todd just walks off, not noticing.  
  
"I'm blind, I need glasses!" Tracey cried jumping up.  
  
"So this is why mom told me to never look directly into the sun." Ash began to run around. Ash and Tracey ran after Todd just as he was getting into bed. "Ah!" Ash dove in.  
  
"Oh, haha!" Tracey did the same.  
  
"Whoa!" Todd laughed. "You're killing me!" They all get settled in. "Tracey, it's your turn to say good night."  
  
"Ok, good night."  
  
"Sleep tight." Ash yawns.  
  
Todd ends it, "Don't let the Pokemon bite." And with that, they fall asleep. But trouble was about to appear in paradise with the arrival of one unexpected visitor...  
  
"Misty?" Ash gasped after being taken down by the unknown attacker. 


	4. Everything Changes

Chapter 4: Everything Changes  
  
Yes, it was Misty, Ash's childhood friend. "Whoa!" Misty finally recognized him.  
  
Ash was in shock, "Wha..."  
  
"How did you..."  
  
"But how did you..."  
  
Tracey is watching with Todd from hiding, "This is horrible Todd, awful I tell you!"  
  
"You mean because they've been reunited after so long, two childhood friends?"  
  
Confused, "What? No! She's going to ruin our motto, everything, out perfect dream!"  
  
"Oh, then I guess we should do something."  
  
"And I know just what it is Todd, we can't let them fall in love tonight!"  
  
Ash and Misty were walking around the town, Ash was showing her around. Ash stopped for a moment and Misty was about to put her hand on the wall to stick her head around the corner and surprise Ash with a kiss on the cheek. But Tracey saw and shot a thorn through a dart to land on the wall and Misty stuck her hand on it.  
  
"Ow!" She jerked it away and Ash turned, he pulled it out and threw it off, and it landed on Tracey.  
  
"Ah!"  
  
They continued to walk on but then Tracey got another idea, he told Todd to get a Pokemon to scar them. Todd returned with a boy Nidoran. They told him to go attack and scare them. He began to run towards them but stopped when he saw a girl Nidoran, and they fell in love. They cuddled as Ash pulled Misty close, their hips touched and Misty giggled.  
  
Todd turned to Tracey, "Isn't that romantic? I should take a picture."  
  
"Ugh!" Tracey just fumed.  
  
Ash and Misty walked along and came to a hill where they stood to watch the sun set. Tracey had another idea though, he got a rope and held one end and hid while Todd did the same with the other. Ash and Misty took a step forward and tumbled down the hill, but this caused Todd and Tracey to fly off and fall too somewhere nearby. At the bottom of the hill on the soft grass by some green flowery bushes, Ash and Misty giggled as they landed in a cuddling position.  
  
"Aw, I should take a picture." Todd cooed.  
  
"Well that worked like a dream." Tracey sighed sarcastically.  
  
"It did?"  
  
"Sarcasm is a foreign language to you isn't it? Just look! She's making those eyes."  
  
"He's smiling that smile."  
  
"They're laughing, and hugging and..." Tracey sighed and sang, "And if he falls in love tonight, it an be assumed."  
  
Todd follows his lead, "His carefree days with us are history."  
  
They both sing as they watch Ash and Misty walk off into the garden, "In short our pal is doomed." Later that night after dusk has settled, Tracey and Todd are walking down the road to go back home and just go to bed.  
  
"Well that's it pal, we gave it our best shot but he's a goner..."  
  
Todd turns, hearing something, "Maybe not..."  
  
"You don't give up, do you?"  
  
"Look." Todd turns Tracey to where they see Ash and Misty talking and arguing until Ash finally walks off, leaving Misty pouting in anger.  
  
Tracey's mood has shifted, "Todd, do you know what this means?"  
  
"Uhm, he can't express his feelings and she has commitment issues?"  
  
Tracey just laughs, "We won, we split them up!"  
  
"And, uhm, that's a good thing?" Todd starts to walk in the direction Ash did, Tracey follows to see Ash wrestling with himself. "Ah, he seems to be taking it kinda hard."  
  
"Yea I know, look, I... but it's the bets thing for us, I mean, for him." Tracey walks off as a bunch of clouds form in the background where Ash had run off to. "Oh let's go Todd, I think a storm's coming." They arrive back home and go inside. "Our motto is safe at last pal, cause nothing's gonna take our boy away now." But the next morning... "He's gone, what do you mean he's gone!"  
  
Misty repeated herself, "It's just like that man told me, Ash has returned." But the duo still doesn't get it. "Oh, you want me to go over it again?"  
  
Tracey snaps out of the daze, "Yes please, but be a dear and just skip to the part about Ash, not that your childhood wasn't fascinating, but..."  
  
Misty ignores the sarcasm, "Ok look, Ash is the rightful Pokemon Master, and after he left after his dad's death, Giovanni was proclaimed the Pokemon Master and formed an alliance with the Rockets, and now that Ash is old enough..." Misty's words seem to mutter off as Tracey and Todd talk, not paying attention to her.  
  
"Poor Ash." Todd sighs. "They could write a story about his life, think of the movie deal. Or no, even a play!"  
  
"Blah." Tracey smirks. "Why is she toying with us, I think this crazy kid is gonna attack us with her Pokemon again."  
  
Misty concludes, "Ash has to go back home to challenge the gym leader to start his journey to become the true Pokemon Master." Misty stares at the two boys who stand there frozen in silence. Misty gets angry, "Oh, don't you get it? Ash needs us, now!" She runs off out the open door.  
  
"He needs us?" Tracey spits. "Then he shouldn't have left us! If he wants to run off to be PokeMaster, well I say don't let the door hit you on the way out! Leave our motto to someone who appreciates it." He slams the door.  
  
"But Tracey, it's not really a perfect dream without Ash."  
  
"What's gotten into you now? Not our motto, that's crazy talk I tell ya. Nothing's changed here, we had our motto before Ash, and we've still got it now after."  
  
"We gotta help our friend Tracey."  
  
"You're just gonna walk away and give up on all this? What happened to friends stick together to the end, hu?"  
  
"I was about to ask you the same thing." And with that, Todd went out the door and slammed it shut as he left.  
  
"Hump, I got everything I want right here." He turns his back, Todd looks through the window and sees, sighs, and walks off. "Now this is more like it, I'm back home and I have elbow room!" He just sighs, "Oh boy..." He walks off around the house, looking around at all the things that brought back memories. "Our motto..." He starts to sing but just gives it up as he goes to lay down on the bed...  
  
"Oh ho, haha!" A voice causes him to wake up and run into the main room.  
  
"You!" He gasps when he sees Prof. Oak. "No, don't say a word, I know what you're gonna say." Imitating him. "Did you find your dream, your motto?" Talking normally. "Well yes I did think you very much, and I'm happy." Imitating him. "Happy is it, so if you're so happy then why do you look so miserable?" Talking normally. "Miserable you say, why should I be miserable? Oh I don't know, maybe because my two best friends in the whole world left me. Heh, they've headed off on some heroic mission, my friends... are gone. And my motto went with them!" Prof. Oak nods at Tracey's realization. "Thanks, I'm glad we had this talk." He runs out the door.  
  
Prof. Oak smirks, "Well, my work here is done."  
  
Meanwhile, Todd was following Misty back to Pallet where Ash should've arrived already, when just then Tracey literally runs into Todd. Misty stops running and turns around.  
  
Todd smiles and helps Tracey up, "Come on buddy, we've got a fight to catch."  
  
"Yea, let's go!" Tracey smiles and they run off together. "Who knows, this could be our big chance, our finest hour."  
  
"You know what Tracey," Todd grinned. "I think you're right." But eventually...  
  
Tracey and Todd were right in the middle of the Rockets, "Oh, all we are a pair of weakling rich trainers with valuable Pokemon." The Rockets began to gather around them.  
  
"Run!" Todd screamed and they ran off into the house, Team Rocket followed.  
  
"What the..." Jessy's voice was heard.  
  
"Ah!" The trio ran out. "Get outa the way!" Tracey and Todd emerge from the house in triumph, Brock following them after being freed from his cage. But just then...  
  
"Hey, move your but already hon." A muffled voice from behind caused the duo to jump as they turned to see Tracey's parents.  
  
"Mom." His jaw dropped. "Dad?"  
  
"Oh Tracey!" Unca hugs him.  
  
"Tracey." Max is surprised.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Tracey is confused.  
  
"Looking for you." She hugs him tighter. "Aw it's ok, mommy's here now." Max sees the PokeBalls on Tracey's belt and pokes them, Tracey just smirks sheepishly.  
  
"Uhm mom? Let me introduce you and dad to my best friend. Todd these are my parents, parents this is Todd."  
  
But Todd just gasps, "Ah look, there's Ash! And that must be the gym leader Giovanni." They turn to see the two confronting each other by the far off corner of the hill, but Giovanni was backing Ash up.  
  
"Well that's good, they're talking things out. Which is how it should be. You know, I have a feeling everything's gonna be just fine." Tracey turns away as a thunderbolt hit the ground below them, setting the dry shrubbery on fire. "Oh... on the other hand."  
  
"The Rockets are up there protecting Giovanni, what should we do?" Todd asked.  
  
"Well, I have a plan..." Tracey speaks up.  
  
"How can we help?" Unca steps forward.  
  
"Mom, dad, you're going to build a trap. We're going to need, dare I say it, a wall, a big wall, with shanty work! And you Todd, you and me are gonna get those Rockets away from Ash."  
  
"Oh, to lure them into the trap?"  
  
"Nothing gets past you, come on pal, let's go!" They run off.  
  
Unca watches them go, "You know, something's different about Tracey."  
  
"You think? He's got PokeBalls, our son's a trainer!" Max yells. Unca just sighs.  
  
Tracey and Todd ran off to where Team Rocket was, Tracey yelled, "Hey Todd, what do you call a Rocket with half a brain?"  
  
They turned as Tracey spoke, "Uhm, beats me Tracey, what?"  
  
"Gifted!" Tracey laughs. Meowth laughs too but Jessy hits him.  
  
"They're talking about us." She growls and shoves past James. "For your last meal, you're gonna eat those words." She growls as James and Meowth appear behind her for backup.  
  
"Ah!" They run off, leading Team Rocket towards the trap.  
  
"Mom, I think we got their attention." Tracey called.  
  
"Not yet, keep stalling." She yells back as she and Max continue to build the poor wall.  
  
"Ok." Tracey begins to think. He begins to juggle, Todd follows his lead.  
  
"You gotta be kidding me." James stops in his tracks.  
  
Tracey finishes the act, "Now mom?"  
  
"Need more time hon." She calls back.  
  
"Uhm..." Tracey begins to do different dances and Todd follows his lead. The Rockets laugh and applaud, but by now dozens more have joined them to watch the spectacle, like hoped would be in the plan. "Is it ready yet mom?"  
  
"Not yet." She yells again. "Keep stalling!"  
  
Tracey gets one last idea, "Wait, hold on a second!" He puts his hands into the shape of a T like in a time out signal.  
  
"Uhm, Tracey what are you doing?" Todd asks.  
  
Tracey gets down on one knee, "Jessy Rocket, would you do me the honor of becoming my bride?" Everyone freezes in shock, Todd's jaw dropped.  
  
Jessy paused before responding, "I don't think so."  
  
"Miss Rocket please, I know what you're thinking, we're too different, it'll never work, think of the age difference."  
  
Jessy growls, "Oh, are you calling me old!"  
  
"Listen to me, I ask you, if not now, when, if not me, who? I'm lonely..."  
  
Todd sniffs, "Can I be your best man?"  
  
James interrupts, "I say we skip the wedding and go strait to the part where the jealous boyfriend beats up the groom."  
  
"Oh, I like that part." Jessy smiles as James pounds a fist into his hand.  
  
"Now?" Unca appears.  
  
Tracey notices, "Sure, if you're ready."  
  
"Oh." Unca sees the Rockets, "Now Max, now!"  
  
"Rockets blast off!" Max cries.  
  
"Hu?" The Rockets are confused. Max kicks the platform the Rockets are standing on and it begins to crumble all around them. "Ah!" They start to look around frantically but then the cracking stops, and they stop.  
  
"I need help." Max whispers. "It didn't work, something's stuck."  
  
"Hey, works for me." Meowth laughed as he backed Unca and Max up against the wall of the house.  
  
"What are we gonna do?" Unca gulped.  
  
Tracey is afraid but then he sees what happened, a rock blocked the final crumbling of the wall which was hanging over the ledge, so in reality, the Rockets weren't even standing on the ground, just over a poorly constructed wall hanging off a cliff. Tracey runs towards the Rockets.  
  
"What?" Meowth turns around.  
  
"Tracey no!" Unca cries as Tracey jumps into the ground under the wall, a few Rockets tried to get him but missed.  
  
"Let's get him!" Meowth yelled  
  
But Tracey made it to the rock and kicked it free, causing the wall to crumble again until finally it all broke apart. The Rockets screamed as they fell down the hill. Unca and Max ran over to the edge. Todd looked off to the other side of the house where he saw Ash standing on the roof and Giovanni fly off the edge and down the ledge of the hill where he rolled down into the pile of fallen Rockets.  
  
"I'd say Giovanni is down and out." Todd smiled.  
  
"We did it." Max cheers in triumph.  
  
"Where's my baby, Tracey? He's hurt! Oh no. He's dead! Or worse! We gotta find him." She becomes an emotional wreck. "He jumped under the wall and it fell right on him, pulling him down below with all the Rockets. Oh I knew he was too young to go out on his own..."  
  
"It's ok mom." Tracey pulls himself out of some of the rubble left over from the wall that stayed up on the hill with them.  
  
"Oh please, it's not ok!" Unca grabs him and shake shim. "Don't tell me it's ok when Tracey's not..." She realizes it's him. "Honey!" She hugs him tightly. "My son, you're a hero!" She lets go and begins to brush his hair with her hand again like she did when he was younger, but she stops herself, realizing her little boy is growing up.  
  
Tracey leans forward and smiles, "You missed a spot." Unca grins.  
  
"That's so beautiful." Max sniffs as Todd takes a picture. "Wait till I tell the two back home about this."  
  
Unca hugs Tracey again, "Mom, choking, not breathing..." She lets go and they smile.  
  
The rain falls as the town gathers to witness the spectacle. Ash had banished Giovanni and the Rockets and overthrown their reign of terror over Kanto and his hometown. Ash is about to go up to Prof. Oak's house where he's about to receive his first Pokemon along with all the other trainers, but he stops when he sees Tracey and Todd.  
  
They smile and bow, Ash smirks and goes over, hugging them, "I couldn't have done it without you guys." He goes up the stairs and gets the PokeBall, raising it over his head with the other trainers.  
  
"That's our boy." Todd sniffs.  
  
"Oh." Tracey rubs his eyes. "I promised myself I wasn't gonna cry..."  
  
"You've really come a long way son." Unca approaches him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
"I found a place that was beyond my wildest dreams. But, it still wasn't home, and I dunno if it still is, unless..." He holds his mom's hands, just like he did before he left to start his journey. "Let's go home, mom."  
  
"Home?" She looks confused. "You mean back to..."  
  
"No, no, no." Tracey stops her and smiles. "To our true home, a place where we can live by our motto in perfect happiness. What I'm talking about is, the Orange Islands."  
  
Unca turned to him and smiled, "Oh Tracey." She hugged him. Tracey smiled over at Todd who nodded.  
  
"So what about you?" He asked after his mom let him go.  
  
"I think I'm going to set out on my own now, you know, see the world. I'm gonna become the worlds greatest Pokemon photographer."  
  
"Well then." Tracey sighed. "I'll be sure to look for your name in the magazines."  
  
Todd smirked, "Don't worry man, we may never see each other again, but we'll always be friends. We'll always have our motto." They both hugged.  
  
"Our motto?" Unca was confused.  
  
"Don't worry mom, you'll know sooner or later." Tracey replied. Soon they'd taken a plane to the Orange Islands where Tracey was welcomed home by his brother and sister. "This mom, this is our motto."  
  
"Your motto." Max laughed. "Oh, I get it!"  
  
Tracey laughed as he and his brother and sister played on the beach by the ocean water, he let his Marill and Venonat out to play and got his family acquainted to Pokemon, but this time in a good way, in a place where humans and Pokemon could live in peace and harmony together, in a place where they didn't have to build walls and hide in fear, a place that Tracey referred to better known as, a dream home, a dream life, 'our motto'.  
  
THE END  
  
Tracey, Todd and Ash did see each other again, each of their lives turned out for the better. Ash (Brock and Misty) ran into Todd later on and some time after that ran into Tracey, who joined Misty and himself around the Orange Islands. But Tracey left home again, this time to return to Kanto, return to Pallet to study under Prof. Oak, the wise man who had changed his life all those years back. (and how the tv show goes, etc.) Todd eventually returned to Pallet, too. Ash had become the Pokemon Master, he and Misty got together and got married and started a family, everyone lived together happily under 'our motto', and well, you know the rest from there... 


End file.
